Update: This story looking at the heartbreak Purdue basketball fans have endured was published one day before senior center Isaac Haas broke his elbow in a win over Cal State Fullerton, ending his season.

Here comes that train again, full of hope and barreling toward heartbreak.

Purdue’s fan base — die-hard as it is — has been watching the Boilermakers plow through regular seasons since legendary coach Gene Keady was hired. And then, like clockwork, the postseason derails them.

“The wins are great, but the losses absolutely kill me,” said Tampa Bay Rays outfielder and Purdue lifer Kevin Kiermaier. “They haven’t won a championship. So it’s one of those things, where we’re all kind of waiting for it."

In 10 of 11 NCAA Tournament appearances between 1984 and ‘96, Purdue was knocked out by a lower seed. The other? They were a nine seed defeated by an eight. Things have improved since ‘96, but still, Purdue leads the Big Ten with 23 regular season titles and ranks eighth with just two Final Four runs since 1949.

No one said being a Purdue fan would be easy. Love em but man they can be so frustrating. I will always ride or die with em tho! #BTFU

These fans are conditioned for heartbreak, though. Many of them cheer on the Chicago Cubs, who, after a 108-year drought, won the World Series in 2016. They figure if those lovable losers could do it then, by God, this Purdue team can do it now.

It has four seniors who’ve won 100-plus games together and they've got sophomore Carsen Edwards to boot. They've got Matt Painter, the 318-153 coach who’s primed to finally get past the Sweet 16.

Second-year athletic director Mike Bobinski can see the future: This train isn't headed for heartbreak.

“What happened in the 1980s has zero bearing and it has nothing to do with 2018 and this tournament,” he recently told IndyStar. “I’ve always chosen, and I encourage people that I work with and who I’m around, ‘Living life in the rear view mirror is a hard way to do it.’ We’ve got some great things ahead of us.”

For these fans, however, it's hard not to look back.

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Tim O'Connor (left) grew up a Purdue fan in Bloomington, Indiana. It went about as you'd expect.(Photo: Provided)

Tim O'Connor had his ticket to cheer on No. 13 Glenn Robinson and he couldn't stop thinking about how lucky it was: Row 13, Seat 13. Purdue was taking on Duke in the 1994 Elite Eight and O'Connor, a Bloomington native, wasn't going to miss it.

Robinson, known as "Big Dog," was scorching defenses that season, racking up 30.3 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. He dropped 30 in the first half and totaled 44 points in the Sweet 16 to knock off Kansas.

His parents met at Purdue years before. They gave birth to a baby Boilermaker and then put him straight into enemy territory when they moved to Indiana University for post-graduate school. So, O'Connor, who teaches in Chicago now, learned early just how miserable it would be to play the part of little brother in the storied rivalry.

“Any time I would bring up a recent Purdue victory or anything like that, they always said, ‘Well, how many banners do you have?’" he said. "Plenty of, 'Hey, when are you going back to the Final Four?'"

Well, he was about to watch his rebuttal right there in Row 13, Seat 13. But wouldn't you know it, Big Dog tweaked his back the night before and shot just 6-for-22 in a 69-60 loss.

He finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds. So there was O'Connor, teary-eyed and confused, left to realize his ticket was a bad omen from the start.

"I was sitting in the stands thinking, just thinking, ‘How, how?!’" he said. "The greatest player in Purdue history is finishing with the same number of points on his jersey."

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Andrew Beering, a Purdue freshman, with his dad, John Beering, and grandfather, Steven C. Beering. Steven was Purdue's President from 1983-2000.(Photo: Provided)

To this day, Austin Beering can't believe his grandfather let him play with that football. Grandpa's house was always chock full of memorabilia: Helmets and plaques and jerseys.

Steven C. Beering was Purdue's president from 1983-2000. He was around for all those great regular seasons that fell short of postseason greatness. Along the way he picked up trinkets, like the Joe Tiller-signed football helmet gifted to Austin for Christmas in 2007.

Back when Austin was a youngster — he's a freshman in West Lafayette now — he asked grandpa to throw the pigskin with him. So, grandpa went and found the "least special" football in the house.

“I was just horrified that he’d let me do that,” Austin said with a laugh. “One of these days I’m going to have to reach out to Drew and get one that’s not totally worn down.”

Beering's life has been shaped by the black and gold from the beginning. Both his parents were Boilermakers and, even though he toyed with the idea of forging his own path, he couldn't do it. He always defaulted back to Purdue and carried on the family tradition.

So, he, too, has embraced the highs and lows of fandom here. But one low stands out from the rest. Beering was at Ross-Ade Stadium for a Purdue-Minnesota football game; the Boilermakers won that 2010 game but they lost something else.

There were shouts of, "No! No!" Then a hush rolled over the concourse. Fans were finding out from an ESPN news alert that Robbie Hummel, one of their best basketball players, had torn his ACL for the second time in two years, this time in a team practice.

“That," he said flatly, "was just heartbreaking.”

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On Saturday, Oct. 28, Jay Wood attended a Purdue basketball game (vs. Indiana State) and a football game (vs. Nebraska). It was slightly colder at the football game.(Photo: Provided)

With a scoop of infield dirt from Wrigley Field, Travis Miller headed to the grave of his grandfather, Raymond Dillon. Miller is sure the lifelong Cubs fan would have appreciated the gesture and Miller allows himself to wonder if it even helped break a 107-year streak.

It was Labor Day weekend 2015, a little more than a year before the Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in a dramatic seven-game World Series to bring one of the country's biggest fan bases an elusive pennant. At last.

Now, Miller and so many others in West Lafayette, wait on theirs.

“That’s all I want, is just one before I die," said Miller, who runs the SB Nation site for Purdue fans, of a basketball title. "Let’s just put it all together and finally win it for once.”

Rick Reese, a 35-year-old fan who first fell for the Boilers by attending Keady's basketball camps, is also a lifelong Cubs fan. He and so many others from Indiana know when Purdue is good enough to make a run.

It's part of the Hoosier charm, falling a little too hard for basketball. Making it a point to learn the game. But, eventually, it becomes a weakness. Fans get attached. They analyze and then love and then, when it all crashes down, they weep.

“It's heartbreaking. It takes time to get over,” Reese said. “But it just comes with being a Purdue fan. We don’t have the tradition like an Indiana, a Kansas or a Kentucky … but really, it’s one of the best kept secrets in the country. Outside the NCAA Tournament, it’s one of the more successful teams in the nation.”

Added Jay Wood, who named his first dog Robbie Hummel: “Every year — I’m a Cubs fan as well — you dream and you dream and you dream. Then every year they rip your heart out, stomp on it. But you love them anyways.”

***

After two junior college All-American seasons, Kevin Kiermaier thought for sure he'd play a year for his dream team. The outfielder committed to the Boilermakers after he wasn't selected on the first day of the 2010 MLB first-year player draft.

But one day later, the Tampa Bay Rays called him up. The Fort Wayne native couldn't pass on the pros, where he's continued to live and die by the Boilermakers while winning Gold (2015, 2016) and Platinum Glove (2015) Awards.

"I'm one of those guys where I care a little bit too much," he said. "I don’t mean that lightly either. When they had a three-game losing streak this year — the 19 wins in a row was great — but when they blew a 14-point lead to Ohio State, it crushed me.

"It was late at night. It’s one of those things that just eats at me when I’m trying to go to sleep.”

And to that end, Kiermaier isn't alone. Every time Purdue stumbles, fans are reminded that their team has folded or fallen victim to bizarre circumstance time and time again.

Ryan Kerrigan, No. 94, played for Purdue after graduating from Muncie Central. He hopes Purdue can make a deep playoff run this year.(Photo: Charlie Nye)

“Maybe it’s because I’m an athlete," he said. "But this team, this group of seniors has won more than 100 games in their career. That’s insane.

"If you can tell me going into the season that my favorite team is going to win 25 games or more, that’s a pretty damn good year.”

Kerrigan is a bit less outspoken than Kiermaier, but he remains a die-hard Purdue basketball fan. He's hopeful the program won't get caught up in the hype of being a high seed or the pressure to, finally, live up to postseason expectations.

As a fan and a professional athlete, Kiermaier understands that this team must feel the weight of 37 years without a Final Four run. They must hear about the heartbreak and hope to take this in a new direction.

“It's not about making a run and saying, 'Oh at least we got to the Elite Eight or Sweet 16.' You’ve got to go out and go for a championship," Kiermaier said. "There’s pressure on those guys, but they’ve been playing their whole lives to get to this point.”